Integrating sales and operation describes the process engineered to obtain information about demand in the commercial context and matching it up against supply and financial objectivity. This then informs the cautious decision making about the future production. Integration occurs when different departments such as sales, marketing, supply chain and finance are integrated in pursuit of a singled out goal. Organizations have ways of achieving this with the simplest way being influencing the organizational culture. Numerous benefits also come with this exercise. Sales and operations planning enhance alignment of several departments to form coherent chain of operation. It harmonizes the functions of the sales, marketing, manufacturing and finance in terms of the goals to be achieved and how to achieve them. In this manner, whenever the marketing department acquires information that a particular product is in high demand, it provides this information to manufacturing which would be ready for it, and in turn have reflected it in the plan. In the same manner, the finance department would also have had anticipation spending in this increased production. When all these operations are ironed out in a smooth manner, it represents agreement between the department heads on the plan.

Another significant benefit of sales and operations integration is that it enhances maximum decision making resources because several departments are involved. There is a lot of engagement of the human resource of the company...

This is done through meetings where issues can be raised, tackled and resolved. The presence of each departmental head provides an opportunity for the entire company to be easily aligned behind an operational decision or organizational vision.
Further, risk management is a very critical aspect of the business environment. Risks are continually changing and become dynamic each day in line with the new engagements that the organization delves into and the global trends. Each department could have its own unique risks bit some risks have ripple effects that go beyond a single department and this can be very futile if only assessed by a single department. Synchronized activities can prove very effective in risk mitigation.

There are various ways through which sales and operations planning can be integrated since sales and operations planning are two components of commercial transactions that need to be integrated to offer commercially viable end results. A number of ways exist to achieve this integration and these include:

Horizontal sales and operations planning integration; in the horizontal sales and operation planning, three categories exist which can be further disintegrated to: supply planning, supply and demand balancing, and demand planning (Ambrose, 2015). This spectrum is relevant to all levels of the hierarchy of plans. In the demand management, consideration is put on how supply of the products and the likely event that the said goods may…